Michelle Sank was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She left there in 1978 and has been living in England since 1987. Her photography focuses on the human condition and more specifically issues about social and cultural diversity, and therefore can be considered as social documentary.

I would like to incorporate some things Michelle Sank uses in my own work. Things such as repetition, how a large amount of her photos focus on more than a single item. Such as this one, there are two dogs and two men in the center, as oppose to having just a man with a dog, or a man.

Analysing the above Photo:

The techniques used in this photo would of included a relatively low exposure as the photo has been taken in daylight and features darker tones despite the sunny weather. There are also strong shadows which further support this. The bottom half of the imagine is also darker and much more colour-filled than the top half. Features browns, greens and various shades of gray, whereas the top half is mainly light-blue sky with the white shirts of the two men. The two halves of the image are quite nicely seperated by the skyline in the background, which also lines up nearly perfectly with the belts the men are wearing. Having both men and dogs looking into the camera helps establish a connection between the viewer and the photo, and makes it feel much more personal.

TECHNICAL: the front of the image is in focus however the back of the image is slightly blurred and out of focus meaning that the reef is only supposed to catch our attention.

VISUAL: In the image you can see a man holding a reef which bears the colours of red and white and green, in the background you can see an elderly person wrapped in a checked blanket bearing the same colours as the reef.

CONTEXTUAL: This image is taken back in 2013, for the Liberation day in Jersey, where they celebrated 69 years since being liberated from the germans/nazis. The laying of reefs are an important part in the ceremony.

CONCEPTUAL: The choice of colours in the image could be seen as significant because the flag of jersey consists of red and white therefore having the same colours are being used helps remember ordeal.

An occupation in a military sense is the control of a country/ region by a military force. The Occupation of Jersey by the Nazis began on 30th June 1940 and concluded with the Liberation of the Island on the 9th of May 1945. The occupation brought about a lot of change within the Channel Islands, from the banning of personal motor vehicles to the mining of all beaches and the fortification of the island as a whole, of these fortifications, many still stand today as reminders of the islands past under Nazi rule.

In the early stages of the second world war, Jersey played a part in an allied bombing mission on Turin and Genoa in Italy. 36 Whitley bomber aircraft used Jersey as a refueling base before launching their attack on northern Italian industrial targets. This was the islands last military usage.

Jersey was liberated a day after the surrender of the Nazis on May the 9th, 1945 by two naval officers from the Royal Navy aboard HMS Beagle. The 9th of May is now an annual public holiday in Jersey and is widely celebrated by all ages.

I am particularly interested in the liberation of Jersey and the legacy it has left upon the island, and the way that May 9th has gone down in history as a day to be widely celebrated across Jersey. I find it a very interesting subject as It truly highlights the spirit of the Island and it celebrates those islanders whom lived through oppression and their will and determination as well as their loyalty to the crown despite being under German rule at the time.

Reminders of the loyalty to the crown and faith in the allies lies at our very feet in Jersey. An example can be found in royal square, Where towards the westerly end of the square, A V shape can be found in the paving. These bricks were lain by Jersey pavers under German supervision and are a symbol of defiance. The V itself stands for victory and throughout the latter phases of the occupation, V’s were spray painted onto road signs and buildings across the Island as an act of defiance and silent rebellion against the occupying forces.

Within my family there is a strong connection to the occupation as both of my grandparents on my mothers side lived In Jersey at the time of the occupation. Liberation to my Grandparents was an extremely important day and one they celebrated every single year without failure, and the day itself has therefore maintained significance through the generations.

Occupation Vs Liberation

In my Skin

“These images are from a project called In My Skin about young people under 25 in the UK who are challenging their body image. I am looking at those who have had or are considering having cosmetic surgery in order to become more acceptable to themselves and achieve their ideal of being ‘beautiful’. Social consensus in Western society today is particularly focussed on physical beauty and achieving and maintaining the “perfect” face and body. Intertwined with this I am also documenting body dysmorphia as young people try and conform to this social expectation resulting in eating disorders and body transformation. Lastly I am documenting transgenderism and the struggle young people have to live within a body they were born into but have no affiliation with. ” – Michelle Sank

My.Self

“This work was commissioned by Multistory. My remit was to document the diversity of young people living in the area – what it means to be a young person in today’s society as well as living in the Black Country. I worked across the cultural divide to cover all aspects of the social strata there. The subjects were photographed in their bedrooms so that the objects and decoration within became metaphors for their individuality and their cultural contexts. The accompanying publication My.Self contains interviews from some of the participants alongside the portraits.” – Michelle Sank

Paul Virilio

Biography

Paul Virilio was born in Paris in 1932. His father was an Italian communist and his mother was Breton. He grew up in Brittany, France. He trained at the Ecole des metiers d’art and specialized in stain-glassed artwork and even worked beside Mattisse in churches. In 1950, he converted to Christianity instead of catholicism.

During the Algerian war of independence, he was conscripted into the army. He then went on to attend lectures in phenomenology at the Sorbonne. 1958, he went on the conduct a phenomenological inquiry into military space and the organization of the territory, especially the Atlantic Wall which can be seen in his images. 1963 he began collaborating with the architect Claude Parent. He participated in the May 1968 uprising in Paris and was nominated by students to be a professor at the Ecole Speciale d’Architecture. From this, in 1973 he became director of studies and the director of a magazine called L’Espace Critique

In 19575, he helped organize a Bunker Archeologie exhibition in Paris. Because of this he became widely published and anthologized.

How did his life Influence his work?

He said ‘war was his university,’ he lived in France during the Second World war. The war developed into an interest for him throughout his life.

Analysis

Technical

Lighting: The lighting in the image appears to be natural from the sun which appears to be behind the subject of the image because the side of the subject we can see is in shadow but bordered by light.

Visual

There is no color in this image, it’s black and white. It has a dark tone because the subject and the landscape are cast in shadow due to the positioning of the sun. The image still has a lot of texture due to the tonal range. You can see the grain and uneven texture of the sandy landscape and the waves in the sea. The image is composed so the subject is in the center and is the focal center.

Contextual

The image is called the Atlantic Wall (the battle against telluric and cosmic forces) and was taken 1994-1995. It’s part of Virilio’s book Bunker Archaeology. It’s an image of a German occupation structure on the Atlantic wall in France. that has been abandoned.

Conceptual

Virilio was an urbanist and these images were meant to emphasize how ghostly and derelict these abandoned buildings are but also to remind how destructive these buildings were. These occupation buildings were part of Virilio’s early life in France and now abandoned they appeared even more like the places of destruction and nightmare for many. Virilio was looking into Albert Speer, Hitler’s head architect when he took the series of images this image is a part of.

Overview of his works:

Francis Foot was born in 1885, he soon started his trade a gas fitter, however became fascinated by photography and early Phonographs and gramophone where re realised that he could make a living from. Soon after this his family to over a shop in Pitt Street where he was based as a photographer and his mum and dad sold gramophones and record at their other shop in dumaresq Street. After his dad died, he took over that part of the business.

His family had prospered the HMV Franchise in Jersey and the famous HMV painting by Francis Barraud. Some of Francis Foots photos where made into postcards, however most of the pictures were of portraits of his family

“Francis Foot – Theislandwiki.” Theislandwiki.Org, The Island Wiki, 2012, www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Francis_Foot. Accessed 6 Sept. 2019.

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https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Francis_Foot